Policies vary so widely in terms of cost and cover, how can you be sure of
finding the best value? These tips will help you choose.

How do you find the best-value travel insurance policy? Easy, you might think. Just go to a price-comparison website and buy the cheapest. But there is a catch. Price-comparison sites seem to be having an interesting effect. Because they are so powerful and used by so many people, there is intense competition among companies to keep the price of their products and services as low as possible to try to ensure that they appear near the top of the results.

A good thing, you might think. In the case of travel insurance, prices have been falling sharply, to the point where you can buy an annual, multi-trip policy for only £30. But when you look more closely at the conditions, you can see why. On some of the cheaper policies, baggage cover has fallen from the old “standard” of £1,500 to £750 or less. The excess – the amount deducted automatically from an insurance payout – used to be about £35; now some companies pitch it at £200. I even found one policy offering cover for up to £200 for cash lost or stolen while you were travelling, but the excess was also £200, so the cover was effectively useless.

Another significant change has been the introduction of new, lower age limits, so that whereas most premiums used to be available to under-65s, now you often find that they rise when you reach 45 or 50. Limitations on family policies have also tightened: it used to be easy to find a policy that would cover dependent children at college or university up to the age of 23; now you can’t even get an online quote for a family policy at Moneysupermarket.com if one child is over 18.

Another point to bear in mind about insurance is that travellers have different needs, depending not only on their age, but also on the value of their luggage, the type of travelling they do (there are endless exclusions and limitations relating to outdoor activities), how often they like to travel, how risk-averse they are and so on. In the case of skiers and snowboarders, there are other things to think about.

Because of these variations, it isn’t possible to make a recommendation for one policy that will be a good buy for all travellers. Instead, I have set out below the factors I took into account when buying my latest policy, and explained why.

1. Multi-trip

Multi-trip policies cover all the travelling you do in a calendar year, with limits on the length of each trip. Whether it is cheaper to buy one of these than separate policies for each trip depends how much travelling you do in a year – three or four trips will usually mean you save with multi-trip cover. The other huge advantage of a multi-trip policy is that you are covered continuously and don’t have to shop for a new policy each time you book. I chose worldwide cover including the United States and Canada. Europe only, or worldwide without North America would have been cheaper (see below).

2. Multiple cover

It is cheaper to buy cover for a couple, or a family, under one policy. I was covering two adults, one child aged 17 and one aged 18 and away at university, and I wanted a policy that enabled each of us to travel independently. These are much harder to find than they used to be, but I managed to find one.

3. Standard limits

For the policy I bought, I have listed below the limits for the key parts of the cover, all per person and with an excess ranging from nil to £75. I would have been happy with medical cover of less than half this – the highest claim ever recorded was only £2 million – but many policies attach much higher limits, apparently for show rather than out of necessity.

A useful part of the policy I bought includes £2,500 per person to cover the financial failure of an airline or other travel company. This also extends to cover additional losses – you might book and pay for a hotel but be unable to get there because the airline goes bust, for example. I also wanted cover when travelling for work purposes, and this policy includes that (with a few restrictions).

5. Activities

I don’t anticipate a particularly active year, but I may well go walking and sailing. This policy includes one of the longest list of sports and activities that are automatically covered which I have come across, including trekking up to 3,000m and sailing, the two I am most likely to take part in. Among that long list are camel and elephant riding. You may laugh, but these are common tourist activities, which may not be covered by some policies, and I know of a woman who was seriously injured falling from a camel while on holiday.

6. Winter sports

My policy covers up to 17 days a year of winter sports, a typical length of time. Definitions of cover in winter-sports sections are variable and there are lots of loopholes you can slip through. Here are a few to watch for:

Helmets You would be sensible to wear a helmet whatever your insurance says, but if you prefer not to, check that the policy allows that. One or two, such as the ski version issued by Essentialtravel.co.uk, say you must wear a helmet “for your insurance to remain in place”.

Off-piste Check whether it is covered at all, whether you need to be with a guide and any other restrictions. My policy covers “skiing within the ski area boundaries of a recognised ski resort and following ski patrol guidelines”, which seems reasonable.

Skis Some policies require you to “secure” or lock your skis when you leave them outside a mountain restaurant. In my experience this is usually impossible and makes the cover pointless.

Snow parks Beware of exclusions, especially if you have children who enjoy a few jumps. If necessary, ring the insurer, as I did, to check that you will be covered.

Conclusion

The policy I bought was from the travel insurance specialist P J Hayman (pjhayman.com) – the Travel Plus annual, multi-trip policy. I opted for the cheapest, most basic version and paid £90 to cover a family of four travelling in Europe, with two teenagers, one of whom is at university, and both of whom are likely to want to travel independently during the year. Cover for travel worldwide would have cost £131.70, cover worldwide without North America would have cost £115.

I think the policy offers the best balance between the sort of cover I want and a reasonable premium. If, over the next few weeks, you find a policy that offers comparable cover at a better premium, please let me know by emailing nick.trend@telegraph.co.uk.

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About Nick Trend

Nick Trend trained at the Consumers’ Association and has been an editor and writer for the Telegraph Travel section since 1995. Our consumer editor offers insider tips to make planning a trip easier – and suggests innovative ways of making more out of your holidays. Email him at nick.trend@telegraph.co.uk or follow him on Twitter: @travellingtrend